This invention relates to UPC barcodes and information labels, and specifically to information labels for UPC bar codes and information which may be affixed to small objects.
The Universal Product Code (UPC) was the first widely adopted bar code symbology. In 1973, the grocery industry established UPC as the standard bar code symbology for product marking. The UPC not only speeds customer checkout at the time of purchase, it provides inventory control, and, in the case of retail establishments that identify customers through various membership schemes, provides information about individual customer buying habits. By 2005, all US retailers will have to be able to scan all UPC article numbers (8, 12, 13 and 14-digit). UPC symbols are fixed in length, can only encode numbers, and are continuous symbologies using four element widths. UPC version A symbols have 10 digits plus two overhead digits. The first overhead digit of a UPC version A symbol is a number related to the type of product. The UPC symbology was designed to make it ideal for coding products. The UPC symbol is decoded by measuring the distance from leading edges to leading edge of bars, trailing edge to trailing edge of bars and leading edge to leading edge of characters. Because UPC is a continuous code with exacting tolerances, it is more difficult to print on any equipment except printing presses, however, modem laser printers may be used to print UPC information on a variety of label materials.
Product codes and their respective manufacturers are available to all persons, and facilitate ordering of product by product type, model and manufacturer. If someone is opening up a sporting goods store, for example, it would save a lot of work to have a database of all the product numbers of the products carried by the store with their descriptions. The store, of course, will still have to enter the selling price for each product. The second reason for such a list is to identify the company that made the product. World Wide Web sites are available which provide product descriptions for all UPC-encoded products. Suppliers of products will generally provide their UPC product codes in a database which may be downloaded or provided on some form of computer-readable media.
An issue which has existed since the beginning of widespread UPC use is that many objects do not lend themselves to application of a label carrying the UPC. Such objects are generally of small size, and are not individually packaged. Bulk items commonly found at sporting goods stores and hardware stores, such as fishing flys, fishing sinkers, bolts, nuts, etc., would have a significant price increase to the consumer if such products had to be individually packaged in materials which could carry the required UPC information. Consumers also need to know what they are buying, and the provision of product information on a label carrying the UPC is of benefit to consumer and retailer alike, in that the consumer can read the information without the need to question a store employee.
A known form of identification device uses a tag having a T-bar tail portion, which is inserted into a product by aligning a T-shaped portion with a tail portion, and allowing the T-shaped portion to return to a 90xc2x0 orientation to a tail portion once the tag is installed. This arrangement, however, will not work on products which have very small eyes, such as fish hooks.
Many products are sold in specialty stores in bulk, i.e., a consumer selects the products which are desired to be purchased, possibly placing the products in a bag, and writing the price of the product on the bag. Product SKU numbers may be provided by the individual retailer for inventory control and pricing. While this technique may reduce the product price to the consumer, there are issues of consumer counting of product and providing the proper product information. If a customer counts out 25 of a product, but miscounts and really has 27 items, a clerk is unlikely to catch the error. While this is a small matter with one customer, it becomes a major source of revenue loss with thousands of customers.
Another form of retailer that deals with small items is jewelry stores. Such stores generally apply price and product information on small tags which are fastened to the product by string or by a plastic insert, which holds two sides of a tag together. The tag, in the case of a ring or ear rings, must be removed before the product may be tried-on by the customer. The tag must then be re-applied.
The provision of an easily applied label which contains UPC information and product information is of benefit to retailer and consumer.
A UPC identification device for affixation to a product includes a label-bearing portion having a side bearing UPC information; and a tail portion fixed to said label-bearing portion and extending outwardly therefrom for attaching the identification device to a product. The tail portion is held in place by expanding the distal portion thereof, or by forming the tail portion into a loop for capturing the label-bearing portion thereof.
It is an object of the invention to provide an identification device which is affixable to small objects for displaying product information and UPC information.
Another object of the invention is to provide an identification device which is easy to affix to individual products.
A further object of the invention is to provide an identification device which may be affixed by a variety of affixation techniques.
This summary and objectives of the invention are provided to enable quick comprehension of the nature of the invention. A more thorough understanding of the invention may be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention in connection with the drawings.